Community Fund for Immigrant Wellness Grant

The Community Fund for Immigrant Wellness Grant, initiated by the Scattergood Foundation, focuses on enhancing behavioral health outcomes for immigrants and refugees in Greater Philadelphia. By empowering community-based organizations, the fund promotes culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate care. Partnerships can apply for $5,000 to develop program ideas, with selected groups engaging in a 12-week planning process. This initiative aims to address barriers faced by immigrants, fostering mental health and wellness through tailored support and leadership development.

Community Fund for Wellness
Our participatory grantmaking alters the traditional process of philanthropic giving by empowering service providers and community-based organizations to define the strategy around a specific issue area or population.
Overview
In 2017, the Scattergood Foundation initiated the Community Fund for Immigrant Wellness by gathering a group of community-based, immigrant-serving organizations to identify strategies for improving behavioral health outcomes for immigrants and refugees in Greater Philadelphia. It is well known that immigrants and refugees who are served by the non-profit community experience barriers to optimal mental health and wellness. Many have experienced trauma and toxic stress – both in their countries of origin and sometimes in the US; some become socially isolated in their new communities and many struggle to find care that meet their needs. Immigrants and refugees, of course, come from all over the world and speak many different languages. It is clear that the traditional western model for behavioral health care is not sufficient. Effective care must be centered within a culturally and linguistically and appropriate context which means that there may be differences in how care is provided to different ethnicities, genders, ages, religions, etc.
Defining Behavioral Health
The Community Fund for Immigrant Wellness defines behavioral health as a dynamic state of well-being which enables individuals to use their abilities in harmony with societal values. Important components of mental health include an individual’s ability to:
recognize, express, and manage emotions;cope with normal stresses of life;relate to others and function in social roles;maintain a healthy relationship to addictive substances;make a contribution to the community; andrealize their own potential.
Approach
Partnerships of two or more organizations apply for $5,000 grants to develop a program idea (for either a new program or for an expansion of an existing program) into a full proposal.
Selected partnerships will participate in a 12-week planning process. During this process, they will participate in two program planning and evaluation trainings that will enable them to hone their idea and develop a full proposal. In addition, the partnerships will be eligible for up to two hours of consultation by phone or video-chat with a program planning and evaluation consultant.
Partnerships that went through the planning process will submit a planning report to the Community Fund for Immigrant Wellness. They will be eligible to apply for funding to support the implementation of their program. They may also use their planning report to seek funding elsewhere.
The Community Fund for Immigrant Wellness Decision Making Group will identify partnerships to receive financial support for implementation.

Eligibility

Eligibility Requirements: Is the organization is recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or have a fiscal sponsor?Is the organization located in the Greater Philadelphia region, including the following counties: Bucks County, Chester County, Delaware County, Montgomery County, and Philadelphia County?Does the organization have an annual budget of $10 million or less?Does the organization’s mission state that they work with immigrant and/or refugee communities?The Community Fund for Immigrant Wellness is dedicated to advancing leadership of immigrants and refugees. In the evaluation process, consideration will be given to how the organization has worked to build a leadership team and board that reflects the community they serve.